Saturday, 15 April 2017

It's been a quiet but industrious week at home, getting into the garden when it's sunny and sorting stuff out around the house when that cold wind starts blowing.

The veggie beds have been manured and one bed has been planted up with 25 Jerusalem artichoke tubers. Yes, I hadn't realised exactly how much space they'd take up but I'll be planting up between the lines with chard and kale, while the other bed will hold the broad beans, beetroot, courgettes, gherkins and everything else I get round to planting.

The fruit bushes are flowering and seem to be benefitting from the new sense of order that the trellis has imposed - at least they can now breath without the loganberry trying to smother them all.

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Beautiful broad beans, both red and green varieties. I'm so looking forward to risotto primavera later in the year.

Mixed salad including the intriguing 'Wasabi Rocket', I'm thinking peppery and fresh salad all summer long - or maybe blow your head off salad all summer long. Time will tell.﻿

Jean-Luc has been busy cooking up two weeks worth of meals for the freezer including steak & kidney pies, lasagne, chilli and fish pie. Cooking from scratch saves us money and means we know exactly what's in our food and we get easy, frozen meals that taste great.

And, finally, I made some soap. I've been making soap now for about 8 years and I've written about making it here before, but I realised that I've never posted a picture of the finished article - so here it is. 20 bars of lime scented soap, curing in the pantry.

Monday, 10 April 2017

Oh Frabjous Joy! I've just discovered Hinterland is back for series 3.

I've written about this series before and never mind Broadchurch; this is the series to be watching.

It's not Agatha Christie or Midsummer Murders - it's much darker than that.

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Filmed in a mix of claustrophobic detail and agrophobia inducing cinematographic landscapes;

the vast bleakness of the land is matched by the bleakness of the lead character who lours over the production like the dark clouds of retribution. He is ably assisted by another detective whose glossy black hair hints at one of Morrigan's ravens urging on the warrior in his battles against the evil that humans do.

If that sounds a bit over the top that is because this series totally draws you in, the plotting is strong and the storylines never fail to show the darkness and despair that surrounds murder and its effects on the local communities.

It's filmed twice; once in Welsh and again in English and the English version is peppered with sub-titles, enhancing the fact you are in a foreign land, forcing you to pay attention and focus on the dialogue and characters. The acting style is pared down and wardrobe muted and sometimes it feels as though you are looking into the very bones of peoples lives.

It's not comfortable viewing but it is bloody good and if you like Scandi-Noir, you'll love this.